Objects

One of Mayer Kirshenblatt’s painting depicting how Jewish boys used to play (see also e.g. MPOLIN-M1971) – in this case, playing a game called palant. The pre-war town did not have any stores where one could buy toys or sports equipment, so the children had to use their own imagination and whatever they had at hand. The game of palant required only two stones and two bats, and the ball was replaced by nuts, buttons, wild cherry pits, small pieces of wood, or snail shells. When discussing the game of palant, the artist reminisced: ‘I played this game from about the age of six until I was old enough, about ten or eleven, to play soccer’ (M. Kirshenblatt, B. Kirszenblatt-Gimblett, They Called Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of a Jewish Childhood in Poland Before the Holocaust, Berkeley 2007).

Małgorzata Bogdańska-Krzyżanek